Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-07-04
THE TRUE CHURCH.
RI. REV. BISHOP KAHN, AT BENWOoD'
YESTERDAY.
A Synopsis Of 8 Powerful Discourse Delivered V
the Congregation Of the Church
at that Point.
BENwooD, July 3, 1887

SIR:-The members Of St Johns Catno
lie Church were very much pleased VIII
to-day's solemn services. The early Mas
was said by Rt. Rev. Bishop Kahn, wne
gave the First Holy Communion to O iarg'
class. The High Mass was celebrated oy
the Rev. Pastor, assisted by Very Kew
Father Parke as Deacon and Rev. Father
Mullen as Sub Deacon. The bishop au
ministered the Sacrament Of Confirmation
to some fifty well-prepared candidates, ant
preached an eloquent sermon, oil whicn
can give You only an outline OF the ms
part. -
He read the Gospel lesson from the Nv
chan. of st. Mathew, being the lesson ap
pointed for the Feast of the Holy Apostle
Peter and Paul, which the Church ceie
brates from June % to July 0. he ais
read from Hebs. 8. Ills, a selection ap'
propriate to the special feast of the day IL
honor eff the Most Precious Blood OF on
Divine Redeemer.
These two texts, the Bishop remarked,
aptly illustrated the twofold office OF Int
Church of Christ; her sacred ministry by
which the blood of Christ IS applied fc
human souls for their publication and
sanctiication; and her teaching a~uthorit,
confided to the Apostles, and pre-eminentiy
to the Blessed Peter. Already John i:4z
Christ had foretold that Simon should b
called Peter, Ia rock. He now gives him
that new name and explains its signifca'
ton. In the Syro-Chaldaic, spoken by
Christ, and used by st. Mathew in writing
his Gospel, the same word without sny
change of termination occurs In both
clauses of the sentence. Christ says 70
Simon, after the latter had publicly con
fessed the Sayiour's divinity: Thou ar,
Cepkas 10 rock, and on this Cephds (rockj
| will build My Church" All respectable
Protestant commentators agree with us
that Christ here declares that He will build
His Church on Peter as OH q rock. whist
Christ must ever remain not only the grea,
cornerstone of this spiritual edlhce, but
its divine foundation, yet has he Deer
pleased to associate with Himself Apostles
and prophets" (Eph. ii:20), but con,
spicuously among all these BLESSED
Peter. The context plainly shows
the true import of the metaphor lie
employs. How are the Apostles to share
with Christ the honor of having the church
to rest on them as on it's solid foundation
Because through the exercise OF the minis
try committed to them they are to teach
the truths of faith and sapply the merits Of
Christ to the converted sinners. But to
Peter individually Christ has granted al
the powers which elsewhere He granted tG
the Apostles collectively. ITO thee will
give the keys Of the kingdom of heaven
and whatever thou shalt bind on earth, II
shall be bound also in heaven; and what
ever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall he
loosed also in heaven" As q visible body,
the Church of Christ must have a visible
head; as a visible flock, it must have q
visible shepherd. According to the testi-
mony of st. John Xxi CHI the last sol
emp charge given by the Saviour was the
appointment of Peter to take His place on
earth as the chief Pastor of the flock.
Feed my lambs-feed my sheep" There
is no need to tell you, said the Bishop,
what your little children learn in one OF
the first chapters of their Primer, Cat,
chism that Christ Jesus ever re-
mains the invisible Head OF the church,
and that HIS earthly representative can
exercise no authority in virtue of his ap'
pointment by Christ Himself. st. Leo,
the Great, who filled the chair OF Peter in
the fifth century, thus paraphraSes the adj
dress of Christ to Peter: "As my Father
has manifested my divinity to thee, ]
make known to thee Thy excellency: for
thou art Peter, that is, as | am the inviol-
able rock, the cornerstone, who make
both one, the foundation other than which
no man can lay-nevertheless, thou art
also a rock, because thou art strengthened
by my power, 80 that those things which
belong to Me by nature, are common to
thee with Me by participation.
Some of the arguments employed to re-
flute the Catholic Interpretation which is
the plain, simple meaning of Christ's
words, are so ludicrous that their authors
must intend them rather for the amuse-
ment than the instruction of their hearers.
We are told, Peter did not lie down and
building on himself; therefore
Peter is not the foundation" The infer
ence is inevitable, Christ being the
foundation, did not lie down and com
mence building on Himself" Such
reasoning is silly in the highest de-
gree; for if its author were serious,
he must think his readers bereft of all in
telligence and comGlon sense. But if
meant TO amuse, it is a playing with Holy
Scripture in a way that sounds very irrev-
TO those who, like Catholics, have
been Taught to hold the Word Of God in
highest. hottest veneration.
In the next place the Bishop dwelt at
some length on the admitted fact that the
church that is now and for nearly nineteen
hundred years has been in union with
Peter and his official successors, is the only
church that can trace its origin back TO
Apostolic times. Then II must be Of this
church the Saviour spoke, when He declared
He would build His church on Peter as on
immovable rock. II this be true, and
our very adversaries seem most ready TO
admit it, what conclusion must necessarily
None other surely save that
which Christ Himself has drawn in the
very passage under discussion, viz: that
the gate OF hell should never prevail against
it," Yet by an incredible perversion of
logic, our enemies draw the very
opposite conclusion. They are not
ashamed to reason thus: Because
the Roman Catholic church is usdoubted-
ly the church built by Christ on
Peter, it follows inevitably that that
church is the mother OF all the foulest alb
o%minations, idolatries, superstitions, etc,
No wonder the intelligent Protes-
tant hangs his head in shame, when he sees
such nonsense set before the public as an
argument against the Church of Rome.
Risum tenedtis dmici?
Then in the third Joint Of this first part
of his discourse, the Bishop explained the
duties of Catholics to Peter in the person
of the Sovereign Pontiff. As the head of
the Church, speaking officially as the
mouthpiece Of the teaching Snthority es-
tablished by Jesus Ch;ist, ais ~atterances
in matters OF ,aith and morals are infallibly
But infallibility does not neces-
sarily imply impeccability. David was
infallible when be wrote his Psalter; but
he was not impeccable. Why, then, in
the case Of the Pope, should his official
infallibility be supposed to render him in
capable Of sin? 1t does not; and those
who, out of sheer hatred Of the Catholic
Church, assert the contrary, must be er-
tremely Ignorant or diabolically malicious.
Besides obedienk TO him as the duly con-
stituted organ in the Interpretation Of d.
vine revelation, Catholics owe him the